Owen Canfield: Zamporini’s life a model for Americans

Early morning readers of the Register Citizen had their days started perfectly on the Fourth of July when they reached the cover page of the sports section. Louie Zamperini had died at age 97 the day before and that, of course, is very sad. But the Register Citizen’s detailed Associated Press story by Christopher Weber and Gillian Flaccus, sketching his remarkable life, was the perfect Independence Day starter.

Laura Hillenbrand, the young woman who authored New York Times #1 bestseller “Seabiscuit” followed that extraordinary effort with the story of Louie Zamperini’s incredible life called “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption.

What made the AP account stand out among the three morning newspapers that I read or at least scan each morning was strong writing and the attention given the vital high points of Zamperini’s life. Quoting the third paragraph of the RC’s story: “Zamperini, a war hero, Olympian and the subject of a celebrated book and upcoming movie on his harrowing story of survival against all odds, died after a long battle with pneumonia, his family said Thursday in a statement.”

Advertisement

When Zamperini was imprisoned in Japanese camps for more than two years after his plane was downed in the Pacific and he survived for 47 days on a raft, he was subject to savage treatment at the hands of his captors on the Marshall Islands. The most vicious of his tormentors was a sadistic head of guards the inmates called The Bird.

The most enduring part of this story is that which occurred when Louie, having miraculously survived the inhuman treatment doled out to him and other prisoners and been liberated and shipped home, had to fight new battles against depression, rage and alcoholism. The way he did it is a story old and ever-new. He found God and Christianity through Billy Graham. He attended one of Graham’s early revivals in Los Angelis.

A world class distance runner before joining the Army Air Corps, Zamperini trained again, ran again and got his horrifically damaged body back into adequate condition again. Spiritually, he now had an iron grip on his psychological self as well. As the AP wrote, Zamperini now embraced “Christianity, a faith that would sustain him the rest of his life.”

I first heard the name Louie Zamperini a number of years ago when one of the TV network programs (I want to say “60 Minutes”) told the story of the distance runner, Louie, who had written a letter of forgiveness to his torturer, The Bird, asking to meet with him to tell him that he, The Bird, was forgiven for his brutality. But the bully refused to meet with him and wouldn’t budge on his refusal. All right, Louie finally said, so be it. I tried.

His biographer, Hillenbrand, said Friday, “Of the myriad gifts he has left us, the greatest is the lesson of forgiveness.”

Meanwhile, he kept running. He ran a leg, carrying the torch, at the Nagano (Japan) Olympics in 1998, an event my son Owen covered as a member of the large Associated Press team.

Zamperini has several public places named for him in Torrance, Calif. where he grew up.

A year or so ago, driving from San Pedro, Calif. to a restaurant in neighboring Torrance, my friend Maureen said, “Look, there’s Zamperini Park.” She knew I was in the process of reading “Unbroken.”

Next trip, I will arrange to go early so we can stop and get a good look at the place and I can see how they have honored this great, indescribably brave, Christian son of America who died so close to the Fourth of July.

About the Author

Owen Canfield started writing a Sunday column, profiling local people and slices of life, for The Register Citizen on Sept. 14, 2008, as some post-retirement writing he was doing for the Hartford Courant wound down. It was a homecoming of sorts. He had started his career at the Torrington Register 50 years ago, before leaving for a job at the Courant in 1965.